"Deep in my heart, I know there’s no promise I’ll be free from trouble in this life. In fact, I’m usually either getting out of trouble, currently in trouble, or about to meet trouble around the next corner."...... I hope you'll stick around for my "Lucille Ball/Gracie Allen" adventures. It promises to be a wild ride.

Nestled on the Oregon coast is a small town of rocky beaches and rugged charm. Locals love the land's unspoiled beauty. Developers see it as a potential gold mine. When newcomer Hank Cooper learns he's been left an old friend's entire beachfront property, he finds himself with a community's destiny in his hands.

Cooper has never been a man to settle in one place, and Thunder Point was supposed to be just another quick stop. But Cooper finds himself getting involved with the town. And with Sarah Dupre, a woman as complicated as she is beautiful.

With the whole town watching for his next move, Cooper has to choose between his old life and a place full of new possibilities. A place that just might be home.

But once Robyn became that popular, she stayed that popular. And
whenBring Me Home for Christmas, the
16th Virgin River novel, was released in November 2011, it debuted in the #1
slot not just on the New York Times roster, but also on the Barnes
& Noble, and Publishers Weekly lists as
well. Robyn’s 2012 holiday story, My
Kind of Christmas, scored two weeks in the #1 slot on the New York
Times bestselling books list.

Clearly, Robyn’s series about men of honor who build a town in
northern California’s redwood forests for the women they love has launched her
into the publishing stratosphere and earned her a broad and loyal following.
The first book in the series, Virgin
River, was published in 2007. The next year Robyn got the call from her
editor that A Virgin River
Christmas had landed on the Times list.

After thirty years of hard work, life was suddenly very, very good
for the Las Vegas author who began writing when her two children were babies.

Those who try to explain Robyn’s “sudden” success might say it was
because she was on the leading edge of a trend toward small-town romances. The
truth is, Robyn’s Virgin River series, like her earlier Grace Valley books, are
a blend of romance and women’s fiction—books that not only entertain but also
address sensitive issues, such as domestic violence, health risks and Post
Traumatic Stress Disorder, anything that can compromise a woman’s happiness
because she’s female.. And there’s no denying that Robyn has a way with words.
Her voice is unique and takes her readers into the hearts and minds of the
brave men and women who have served in the military and into the hearts of the
families left behind, families like hers.

Surprisingly, Robyn didn’t always know she wanted to be a writer.
She had planned to become a nurse. She married her high school sweetheart four
weeks before he left for Air Force Officer’s Training School at the peak of the
Vietnam War. Because she found herself following Jim from base to base, Robyn
never had a chance to pursue nursing. Her husband worked long hours and often
traveled. To pass the time Robyn read. When doctors instructed her to stay down
and keep her feet up during a complicated pregnancy, her neighbor began
bringing her ten paperbacks a week.

“I was reading more than one a day. Nothing short of labor pains
could snap me out of it,” Robyn said.

Since the books she’d been devouring were by Anya Seton, Kathleen
Woodiweiss and Rosemary Hawley Jarmen, Robyn says it only made sense that her
first efforts to write were in the historical romance genre as well.

There was no training program available at the time for writing
romance. At the first writers’ conference Robyn attended—back in 1976—a
novelist who wrote in a different genre critiqued Robyn’s third manuscript and
suggested she go home and find something to do for which she had talent.

That same manuscript was published in hardcover two years later asChelynne, a novel which Robyn recently
reissued as an e-book. Her second manuscript was eventually published as well.
But Robyn says her first was simply a tool for learning and will remain buried
and “Never be seen by human eyes.”

Robyn has always written about strong women, no matter the period
in which they lived. For the first fifteen years of her career she wrote
romance, the early books of which were all historical, but later included contemporaries.
Needing a change, she branched out and wrote a thriller, which she said she’ll
never do again because, for her, it was too creepy. She also tried her hand at
non-fiction and what she smilingly describes as “several brilliant but as yet
unsold screenplays,” in addition to articles and short stories.

“I jumped all over the place, not really aware that I was working
on reinventing myself and redesigning my craft,” she says. “I began to develop
my own brand of women’s fiction, a style that most closely resembles my take on
life. I want to laugh through a book, but I don’t want a book that’s a big
laugh. As a reader I want to have a genuinely good time, but I don’t want the
book to be a joke. I want real women’s issues, real humor and teeth in the
story.”

She says that reading is important because people need a safe
place to deal with the emotions they’re stuck with, and a book is a safe place
to do that. She believes there’s great value in her novels dealing with real
issues in a realistic manner.

Perhaps as important a character as any of the people in her
books, Virgin River—a fictional town in a real part of California—is a location
that Robyn describes as a brave and adventurous spot.

“It’s not a cute and easy place to live,” Robyn explained. “It
calls on my characters’ deepest sense of adventure to live there.”

Asked if she’d enjoy living in Virgin River, Robyn’s quick to say
that even if it were a real spot, she’d never move there.

“I have an overwhelming need to live in a place where I can get my
eyebrows waxed,” she explains. “But I love to write about it, and the rugged,
remote Humboldt County of northern California is a great place to visit.”

Fortunately for Robyn and her many fans, she spent much of 2012
doing what she loves best, writing. As a result, her 2013 publishing schedule
introduces a brand new series—Thunder Point—set in a picturesque coastal
community on the Oregon coast. Like her Virgin River novels the Thunder Point
books will make readers laugh, sigh, and fall in love with a small town filled
with people they’ll never forget. The
Wanderer is an April book; The
Newcomer, July, and The Hero,
September.

As a one-time military wife (Jim eventually left the Air Force for
a career in the aviation industry but is retired today), Robyn is strongly
drawn to issues and causes that honor our men and women who serve—and their
families. As a result, in late 2011 her publishing house, MIRA Books, sponsored
a contest that allowed military families to write in and share their personal homecoming
stories.

“So many have waited at the military base or post, at the airport
or bus depot, and know first hand how slowly those seconds tick by as they wait
to bring their heroes home,” Robyn says.

Robyn plans to find additional ways to support military members
and their families in the months and years to come.

Robyn and her husband enjoy traveling, often taking research trips
together. Their son and daughter are grown. Robyn says that, in addition to
reading her novels and making snide remarks about how she’s used family
scenarios to her advantage, they have made her a happy grandmother.

www.robyncarr.com

My Review:"Hello," he said to the receptionist. "My name is Hank Cooper and I'm on my way to Thunder Point following a call from someone saying my friend, Ben Bailey, is dead. Apparently he left something for me, but that's not why I'm headed your way..."The one thing I really enjoyed about the book was that there were so many characters and different story lines within the book, yet they were all interconnected. Surprisingly enough, it did not leave me confused or not able to follow the story. It was very well written and had an enchanting quality to it. "At a turnoff, there was only a sign that read Cheap Drinks, and an arrow pointing left. Very classy, he found himself thinking. Ben had never been known as what Cooper's Southern grandmother had called 'High Cotton'."After I received the book to review, I found out that it was Book One of a series, yet I found the book stands well on its own. The book had an opening, middle, and finished up nicely. "The door to the diner opened, the bell tinkling. Ray Anne appeared in her version of a Realtor's business suit - too short, too tight, too much boobage.""Sarah, that dog should be on a leash!" "He is, Ray Anne." She leaned back on her stool to look out the glass pane in the door. "He's allhooked up." She wiped at her purple skirt. "He still managed to get me with that awful mouth of his." "Well, Ray Anne, you're just so edible-looking," Lou said.It was intriguing the way the author managed to combine love and bullying and loss and raising kids and finding love all in one book and not have it overwhelm the reader. It was an easygoing story that was interesting to read. You were transported into a small coastal town along with Hank. The way the story was written gave you the sense that you had moved in and become a neighbor to the townspeople. "Well, you'll never guess what I just saw! The most gorgeous man, out at Ben's place. He was built like a brick you-know-what - worn jeans, torn in all the right places, plain old T-shirt under a leather jacket. One of those flying jackets, you know, Sarah. Driving one of those testosterone trucks, pulling a trailer...handsome face, maybe a dimple, scratchy little growth on his cheeks and chin...It was like an ad for Calvin Klein."..."Oh, there's Deputy Yummy Pants..." "Deputy Yummy Pants?" Sarah asked with a laugh in her voice. "The teenage girls around town call him that," Lou explained drily. "I don't recommend it. He hates it. Gets him all pissy..."Robyn Carr did an outstanding job describing the landscape of the town where the story takes place. It was very easy to picture the beach and the mountains and the diner in your head as the plot played out. I was able to picture the old bait shack/bar and the stairwell leading down to the mud basement. I could see the Coast Guard rescuing the climbers off of the rock and the teenage parties on the beach with the not-so-carefully hidden police car up above keeping vigil. There was sadness and joy, and humor and sarcasm. "...He winked at her, and Cliff ran for his life. She took a sip of her wine. 'How do you know I won't expect sex if I pay.' 'Well cheers,' he said, lifting his draft. 'Although I'd feel cheap and dirty the whole time, I can live with that'."It was a really start to a series and I am looking forward to where the author takes us next.

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